


The Embers Still Burn

by End



Series: And the Ashes are Left Behind [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Ghost! Marinette, Sadness, etc - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7024876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/End/pseuds/End
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the end, she doesn't regret anything.<br/>She know she's made the right choice, but she feels so useless.</p><p>But she can still help, in her own way.</p><p>So she does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Embers Still Burn

**Author's Note:**

> So I made a part 2 because i have no self control.  
> Here's Marinette, I guess

Marinette has decided. 

 

She hates being dead- despises it to no extent. 

 

She feels useless, unable to do anything, and yet unable to pass on because of her own stubbornness to see what was once her fight to the end. She doesn’t regret her decision, but she hates the useless feeling that settles in her.

 

She is forced to wander; unable to stop the crimes she witnesses, to comfort those in need- and she hates the confinement that comes with death.

 

She has her moments- moments where she has gathered enough energy to manifest herself slightly- and in those moments she can shed herself of her confines for a short while.

 

In the early months of her death, she stays close to Adrien. She is a benevolent spirit, so she gives off warms instead of cold, but she  can still only even give him a heartbreaking silence, unable to sooth him when he needs her most.

 

Sometimes, when the world hits him particularly hard, and Gabriel Agreste- Hawkmoth, she now knows- is particularly cold, she uses her energy to give him her luck. Being dead, she really has no use for it anyway. 

 

There are a few times when Gabriel takes his cold detachment too far. She has grown to despise him- he is cruel, and his love is sparse- but she accepts that he is learning, and Adrien is fighting in his own way. 

 

-

 

She’s reached the peak of her energy, and with the way Gabriel has been acting today- far more distant than ever before- she doesn’t have any trouble deciding what to do with her temporary manifestation this time around. 

 

He locks himself in his office, and she follows, seething with righteous anger.  Gabriel Agreste is oblivious to her presence, and for once, she appreciates the fact that she is dead- she has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

She takes her time strategizing- she has all the time in the world- until she decides her course of action. She stands behind him now, and begins.

 

“Boo.” She whispers, manifesting behind him and blowing a cool breath by his ear.

 

He jumps, whipping around to face her, and his face drops of it’s cool facade in shock.

 

Composure broken, Gabriel raises a shaking finger towards Marinette.

 

“You- You’re dead!” 

 

“I am very much aware of that, thank you.” She repiles curtly.  “But that’s not why I’m here, though it would have made sense to come and do something like this when I found out that you were Hawkmoth. Ah, well. I’m not here to blame you for my death.”

 

Her smile mirrors his from earlier- cold and unfeeling.

 

“I’ve come to talk about your son.”

 

-

 

It’s easy for the words to spill off of her tongue and into the air, and the way his face contorts at her sincerity is worth the energy it drains. 

 

He is regretful, but he does not change. And he is angry- so very angry- but it is empty, and it is broken, just like himself.

 

It is satisfying, but it is essentially useless. He is too cold, and Adrien too accepting of it. 

 

She finds herself more often than not wrapping her arms around him in her own sorrow.

 

-

 

_ “You are his  _ **_Father_ ** _! It’s your responsibility to protect him! He shouldn’t be the one worried about you- But you wouldn’t know that, would you? I know you want your wife back, but if you don’t hold him close, what reason does she have to return? What makes her believe that you missed her, if you can’t even take care of what she’s left behind? Don’t be so self-centered!” _

 

-

 

Plagg knows she’s there, sometimes, when her energy levels are high.

 

TIkki leaves shortly after her first manifestation- it had been weak, a gentle push to move on- and Alya takes her place as Ladybug.

 

-

 

_ “Tikki. I’m still here. I’m still watching. Paris needs you, Tikki. You need to go. “ _

 

-

 

The first time Alya and Adrien fight an akuma together, Marinette can’t do much. She is weak and feeble- essentially useless. She can’t protect them, and that fact weighs on her like a stone.

 

It’s pure emotion that causes her to launch herself in front of the first of many dangerous attacks, but the look of surprise on her Chat’s face is enough to make her smile and do it again.

 

It doesn’t hurt- nothing does, really- but it’s draining. Full physical manifestations are hard to pull off. It’s harder to support them emotionally with such low energy levels.

 

-

 

Adrien can’t feel her presence as much as she’d like him to, though Plagg can and tends to comfort him more when she’s around. 

 

Adrien mourns frequently. She knows it’s her fault, but what’s done is done. She can’t do anything about it.

 

Sometimes, in the lull between attacks, she leave signatures. She leaves a bit of her luck in the things he uses most- in his favorite pen, or in the scarf she gave him years ago- and Plagg knows this. On low days, Plagg gives him the scarf and promises good luck, for once.

  
And when Adrien walks with a spring in his step later that day for the first time in months? Well, Marinette has  nothing to say, though her loving smile would definitely give her away.

**Author's Note:**

> NO REGRESTES  
> ((sobs))


End file.
